A new study has revealed that actors named Chris and talking animals are getting more screen time than women over 60.
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Study: Talking Animals Outshine Women Over 60
A new study has revealed that actors named Chris and talking animals are getting more screen time than women over 60.Demi Moore, 63, won a Golden Globe last yea...
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, 63, won a last year for the body-horror satire The Substance – and become – while , 67, staged a successful movie comeback with her Oscar-winning turn in and Freakier Friday, but apparently that hasn't been enough to reverse ageism in Hollywood.
The analysis, conducted by Age Without Limits, reviewed the 100 top-grossing films in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and found that only five starred an actress over the age of 60. But six featured an actor named Chris in the lead role, per Variety.
It was also found that films are four times more likely to have a talking animal in the lead than a woman over 60.
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The findings have irked , 67, to no end and spurred her to appeal to the film industry to be more welcoming toward older actresses.
'Women are half the population and we get older. So where are the stories about us?' Thompson, a two-time Oscar winner, told Age Without Limits in a statement.
Demi Moore, 63, has actively faced and challenged ageism in Hollywood since her 40s, but a new study suggests the problem is getting worse, not better; pictured on February 23
The actress won a Golden Globe last year for The Substance, which hit back at Hollywood ageism by satirizing the industry's double standard and obsession with youth
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'The older we get, the more interesting we are. I want to see more films center aging women. We are compelling, relatable, and overdue for center stage.
'Older women don’t need permission to exist on screen. They already exist in the world, cinema just needs to catch up,' she added.
Coincidentally, Thompson has a leading role in the just-released film The Sheep Detectives.
Jamie Lee Curtis was mentioned in the study, having starred in one of the five films released in the UK in the past five years that featured a woman over 60; pictured on March 19
That film was 2025's Freakier Friday, which reunited her with original Freaky Friday co-star Lindsay Lohan
The findings have irked Dame Emma Thompson, 67, to no end and spurred her to appeal to the film industry to be more welcoming toward older actresses; pictured in October 2025 in New York City
Coincidentally, Thompson has a leading role in the just-released film The Sheep Detectives
The live-action murder mystery also stars a flock of CGI sheep voiced by Julia Louis-Drefus, Bryan Cranston and Star Trek: Picard’s Patrick Stewart among others
Chris Pratt topped them all with three blockbusters in the past three years, including 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie and 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Pratt was also featured in the 2024 flick The Garfield Movie, in which he voiced the part of the titular orange tabby.
Chris Pine led the 2023 critical smash Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Chris Hemsworth starred in 2024's Transformers One, while Christian Friedel also gained worldwide recognition for his chilling performance in 2024's The Zone of Interest.
Meanwhile, Thompson may want to see more older women nab film roles, but she has shied away from theater roles in recent years because she's a 'morning person.'
The actress confessed she was 'faintly traumatized' by the long hours she used to work on stage, admitting her role in Me and My Girl in London's West End in the 1980s was particularly tough.
Plus, she finds theater difficult because she's uncomfortable working late into the evening.
'I’m a morning person, and theater actors are often night people,' she told The Times newspaper.
There are a few actors named Chris that have taken the box office by storm, including Chris Pratt, left, in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie and 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Chris Pine, right, in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Pratt was also featured in the 2024 fully animated flick The Garfield Movie, in which he voiced the part of the titular orange tabby
Chris Hemsworth starred in 2024's Transformers One; pictured in September 2024
'I was also faintly traumatized by doing 15 months, eight shows a week in Me And My Girl when I was in my early twenties. The workload in a musical is very particular. And back in the day, no one got breaks. You would get ill and just carry on. It was tough.'
Thompson was last seen on stage in a version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in New York and London in 2014 and 2015, and recently took part in Whodunnit Unrehearsed 2, an improvisational stage show, which features a different star guest at every performance at London's Park Theatre.
However, Thompson admitted she may consider a new role on stage in the future, but only if it's a short run.
She added: 'It’s very possible I might do [a short run] when the right thing comes along.'
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